Moonlight on Water (6 page)

Merrill laughed. “Rachel is
always
in a hurry. I'm surprised you haven't noticed her running hither and yon about the Community as she collects information to keep River's Haven's books balanced.”

“I had no reason to notice her … before.” She gave him a warm smile.

Merrill's affection for Miss Page must be returned. That pleased Rachel, because she liked to see her brother happy. Unlike her, he had been miserable in their Ohio home before their parents died, and he had wanted to come to River's Haven as soon as their father was buried.

“So where are you bound, Rachel?” he asked.

“I have some errands to run in Haven.”

“I guessed that by the way you are dressed.” He smiled. “You look overly warm.”

She wiped sweat from her forehead, then straightened her bonnet. “It feels as if it is going to rain.” She laughed. “Or should I say as if it
should
rain?”

“The sooner the better,” came a reply from behind her.

Rachel turned to see Calvin Foley, who was widely regarded as the best-looking man in the River's Haven Community. His hair beneath his tall black hat was the gold of spun sunshine, and his features were even, enticing one's eyes to linger on his strong chin or his full mouth. It was rumored that he had left a well-to-do family to come here and find a home with those who shared Mr. Carpenter's ideas. Even in a simple coat of black and an unadorned waistcoat that matched what Merrill wore, he possessed an aura of wealth and power. He showed no sense of arrogance, but the strength of his will refused to be ignored.

“You know Mr. Foley, of course.” Merrill's smile appeared to be very genuine, although Rachel noticed how he moved a bit closer to Miss Page. Was he afraid that Miss Page would set her cap on Mr. Foley instead? Since he had finished his year-long match with Miss Turnbull, Mr. Foley's name had been mentioned in connection with several women. He had his choice among the Community as a member of the Assembly of Elders, so Merrill might be wise to be concerned.

“Of course.” She gave Mr. Foley a smile she hoped did not look false. Somehow, she had to find a way to slip away from this conversation. Every moment that passed might be the very one that revealed how Kitty Cat had run away again. “How are you this afternoon, Mr. Foley?”

“Too warm.” He chuckled. “Did I hear that you're going into Haven?”

“Yes.”

“If your errand can wait until the morning, I'd be glad to offer you a ride with me.”

“Thank you, but unfortunately this errand can't wait.”

He tipped his hat to her and said, “Another day, perhaps.”

“Thank you.” She was not sure what else to say when she must take care with every word. No one had mentioned the little girl, and she wanted to put an end to her part in this conversation before someone did. “Good afternoon.”

Slipping away was easier than she had guessed, because Mr. Foley began talking to her brother about some of the horses that were in the common stables. Miss Page seemed captivated by every word each man spoke.

Rachel lifted her skirts out of the dust on the road. After the spring's heavy rains, the weather had been dry. She hoped storms would come soon to ease the heat. Not the rough storms that sometimes struck the river valley, but gentle, healing rain that would give the crops a good soaking.

She passed several farmhouses on the road. No one was visible in front of any of them, and she guessed everyone was working in the fields or hiding from the sun. She adjusted the black bonnet that seemed to encase her head like an oven. The straw bonnet she wore at River's Haven was much cooler.

Perspiration was gliding along her bonnet ribbons as she reached the bridge over the creek just outside of Haven. She hurried across it. The boards had not yet weathered. Mr. Sawyer had recently replaced the bridge, which had washed out in the floods earlier this spring.

The village was a welcome sight. When she saw a sign being hammered over the door of a building next door to the Grange Hall, she smiled. HAVEN PUBLIC LIBRARY was lettered across it. She had not guessed that the village was getting a library. Would the residents of River's Haven be allowed to borrow books, too? She would have to find out—after she discovered where Kitty Cat was and impressed on the little girl the need to remain in the Community.

Rachel looked both ways along the main street, then rushed across it to Delancy's General Store. A train must have recently arrived, because the street was filled with carts and people going in every direction in a hurry.

She climbed up onto the porch and went into the store, pausing just beyond the doorway to let her eyes adjust to the dim light within. Slowly the interior of the store emerged from the shadows. Two women were talking at the back of the store. She recognized one as Alice Underhill, her dark blouse dusted with chalk, who was the schoolmistress in Haven. The other woman was as easily identifiable. Emma Sawyer, who ran the store. Mrs. Sawyer's silhouette was not as slender as it had been the first time Rachel had met her, for Mrs. Sawyer was already showing signs of her pregnancy.

Rachel lowered her eyes. It would be expected that she give Mrs. Sawyer congratulations on the impending birth. She could not. Her mother and cousins had had this happy glow when they received news of the coming child … and then they had died.

Both women turned as Rachel walked toward where they stood beside a pair of rocking chairs. Again that twinge struck her. She must speak to the steward in the woodworking shop in River's Haven about having a rocker made for her cottage. Rocking Kitty Cat to sleep would be so wonderful. Reminding herself that she should not be thinking of such a thing now when the little girl was missing, she greeted the two women.

Miss Underhill gave her a terse “good afternoon,” then bid Mrs. Sawyer a good day. The glare that the schoolteacher fired in her direction told Rachel that Miss Underhill did not want to be in the company of someone from River's Haven. Rachel should be accustomed by now to the insult, but each time it hurt. If those who were frightened by the Community would come out to see how peaceful and prosperous it was, maybe they would set aside their prejudices.

“Miss Browning, right?” asked Mrs. Sawyer.

“You have a good memory.”

“It's important when one is running a store.” Mrs. Sawyer smiled.

“Is Sean here?”

“He just ran down to the train station for me. Do you want to wait?”

“No. I'm looking for Kitty Cat.”

“Again?” The shopkeeper's face became abruptly serious. “Is she lost?”

“Not exactly lost. She left me a note that she was going to visit Sean.”

“She can write that well at her young age?”

Rachel chuckled. Her shoulders relaxed, and pain burst from the tension easing across them. “Her message was clear enough for me to guess this was where she was bound. When Sean gets back, will you ask him if he's seen her? I'll keep looking around the village.”

“Don't take this the wrong way, Miss Browning, but—”

“You are wondering if Kitty Cat keeps running away because she doesn't want to be at River's Haven.” She sighed. “She loves living at River's Haven, except for not being able to see your Sean and her other friend, Brendan Rafferty.”

“Could she have gone to Mr. Jennings's farm to visit the Rafferty children?”

She shook her head. “Her message was that she was coming to see Sean. She's been talking nonstop about the village ever since she came here a few days ago. I'll look around and see if I can find her.” She thanked Mrs. Sawyer before rushing back out onto the street.

The glint off the river below caught Rachel's eye. Kitty Cat had been talking about the village
and
the steamboat. Could she have gone there again, even though Rachel had asked her not to? “Misterhors” had been the second word on the page left on the kitchen table.

Why was she hesitating? Was she so intimidated by Mr. Colton that she did not dare to go to his steamboat again? She frowned at the very idea. The man was a rogue, but she had met rogues before. They usually were mostly bluster, and if one ignored them they got bored and went on their way to bother other people.

Gathering up her cumbersome skirts, Rachel hurried past the railroad station and down the hill toward the river. She heard a carriage behind her. As she stepped to the side of the road, she heard a shout of warning. She turned and saw a hooded buggy speeding too quickly for safety. Was it out of control? She was about to jump out of its way. Then she saw a small, redheaded form in the middle of the road where a ball was rolling to a stop.

“Kitty Cat!” she screamed in horror. As she raced back up the hill, she stepped on her hem, nearly stumbling. Fabric tore, and a flash of hot pain scored her ankle. She did not slow as she yanked the little girl out from in front of the approaching wagon. The ball flew up into the air and under the carriage. It bounced away into some high grass.

“Rachel, that hurts!”

She squatted before Kitty Cat. “I didn't want you to be run over by that carriage.”

“Carriage?” Excitement fired Kitty Cat's voice as she whirled to stare after the vehicle, which was spraying dirt behind it in a brown cloud.

Rachel stood and drew Kitty Cat out of the dust. “You need to be more careful when you're in Haven. It isn't like our Community where no vehicles are allowed near the walkways.”

Sean rushed up, his brown hair falling into his eyes and the ball in one hand. He wiped dirt from his clothes as he shouted, “Wow! That was close! Kitty Cat, have you forgotten how fast a carriage can go?” He scowled at her. “You never were so silly when we lived in New York City.”

“I forgot,” said the little girl. “I wanted to catch the ball before it rolled all the way into the river.”

“But you could have been killed,” Rachel scolded. “Sean is right. You need to be more careful.”

She hung her head. “Rachel, I am sorry.”

“Just don't forget again.”

“I won't.”

“Good.” She smiled at Sean. “Thank you for shouting your warning! If I hadn't heard you, I wouldn't have gotten up the hill in time.” She shifted, taking weight off her left foot. She shook it, hoping the heated pain stabbing it would vanish before she began the walk back to River's Haven.

“Are you all right?” asked a man from behind Rachel.

She turned. Her smile wavered when her eyes met Mr. Colton's gray ones. “Yes, we are fine.”

“I would readily agree.” His gaze wandered along her as if he had never seen her before.

“Thank you for asking, Mr. Colton,” she said in the same cool tone.

He was dressed in the work clothes she had seen him wear the last time she visited the boat. Oil stains drew her eyes to his strong arms and muscular legs. He pushed a broad-brimmed hat back on his head and greeted the children.

“Let's go, Kitty Cat.” Rachel took a single step, then winced.

“Are you hurt?” Mr. Colton asked.

She clenched her hands, and the little girl yelped. Releasing Kitty Cat's fingers, she said, “I twisted my left foot when I rushed to save Kitty Cat from that carriage.”

“And tore your dress.”

“My dress?”

He looped a single finger in the torn seam at her waist. “Here.”

“What are you doing?” She tried to step back as she pushed that probing finger away, but halted when more pain swirled up her leg.

“You ripped your dress.” He gave her a rakish grin. “Just wanted to point out where.”

The little girl piped up, “Rachel doesn't like long skirts. She says they just cause women to get hurt.”

“Excuse me?” Mr. Colton asked.

“At River's Haven,” Kitty Cat answered before Rachel could, “ladies wear sensible clothing. The skirt Rachel wears there comes only to here.” She slashed her hand across the black skirt at knee level.

“Is that so?”

“'Tis so. That way she—”

Rachel put her hand on Kitty Cat's shoulder. “I think that's enough.”

Mr. Colton smiled. “Enough to give me a very good idea of what the female clothing at River's Haven looks like. Seems to me that I should pay a visit out there one of these days.”

“I thought you were too busy with your steamboat for anything else.”

“Retract those claws.” He grinned when Sean and Kitty Cat giggled. “Lad, is there a doctor in Haven?”

“It's nothing to bother Doc Bamburger about,” Rachel argued. If she said the Assembly of Elders would be furious if she went to an outsider doctor, Mr. Colton would start another argument. She did not feel up to trading words with him now. She glanced up at Haven, wishing there was a way she could have the doctor look at it without the Assembly of Elders knowing. Clenching her teeth to hold back her groan, she added, “Sean, will you let Mrs. Sawyer know that I've found Kitty Cat?”

“Sure.” The lad took two steps up the hill, then paused to ask, “Can Kitty Cat come back to help decorate the wagon for the Fourth of July parade?”

“Please, please, please, please,” begged the little girl, tugging on Rachel's skirt with each word.

Rachel bit her lip as the motion sent more agony along her leg. Lifting Kitty Cat's hand off her skirt, she said, “I can't promise, but I'll ask.”

Sean's face fell, and Kitty Cat stamped her foot, but it was Mr. Colton who asked, “Why do you have to ask anyone? I thought Kitty Cat lived with you.”

“The Assembly of Elders makes those decisions in River's Haven.”

“You can't leave the Community without getting their say-so?”

“Don't be silly. Of course we can leave. It's just that the children shouldn't be wandering about the countryside on a whim.”

“Nor should they be prisoners.”

“I assure you, Mr. Colton, no one is a prisoner at River's Haven. I—” She could not halt this groan as another savage streak of pain surged up her left leg.